Laffitte released on $1M bond, was Murdaugh’s alleged accomplice in financial crimes
An ex-Hampton County banker who is accused of helping Lowcountry lawyer Alex Murdaugh defraud clients is out of jail after posting a hefty bond set last week by a circuit judge.
Russell Laffitte, a 51-year-old Hampton resident, was released from the Kershaw County jail late Friday afternoon, but was required to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts, court records show. He is not allowed to leave the state.
Judge Alison Renee Lee set bond at $1 million and required Laffitte to remain on house arrest. Under terms of the bond, Laffitte had to post 10%, or $100,000. Court records show he paid the bond for 21 alleged crimes, including breach of trust with fraudulent intent, computer crime and criminal conspiracy.
Laffitte, who an attorney said last week owns 9% of the shares in Palmetto State Bank, is a friend of Murdaugh’s, the Hampton County lawyer involved in a sensational criminal case that has drawn attention across the country.
Murdaugh has been in the Richland County jail since last fall, facing a long list of charges against him and unable to post a $7 million bond.
Those charges include insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. He also faces charges related to an attempt to stage his own murder so his oldest son could collect $10 million in insurance money. Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, were murdered last summer at the family’s country estate in Colleton County. A suspect or suspects have not been charged, and Murdaugh has been identified as a person of interest in the case.
Separately, Paul Murdaugh had been accused in the death of a 19-year-old involved in a boating accident for which he was believed to have been driving drunk.
Laffitte, who attended Newberry College and was a respected member of the Hampton community, has not been implicated in those issues and maintains his innocence in the financial crimes. A banker by profession who was fired from the Palmetto State Bank board earlier this year, Laffitte is accused of involvement in a complicated scheme in which Murdaugh is alleged to have defrauded clients of money the clients received in legal settlements.
Prosecutors said during Friday’s virtual bond hearing that Laffitte had loaned money to Alex Murdaugh through the bank, but the loans were “off the books.’’
Creighton Waters, the prosecuting lawyer for the state Attorney General’s Office, said disbursement checks from a client trust account would be made out to Palmetto State Bank, but Murdaugh would take those to Laffitte, who would convert them for Murdaugh’s personal use.
He also said Laffitte was a conservator, who was supposed to look out for injured clients. Overall, $1.8 million was involved in the alleged scheme, Waters said.
“Why would Mr. Laffitte allegedly do that?’ Well, he was a loan officer who had given a whole lot of loans to Alex, the bank had a lot of exposure and Mr. Laffitte is the officer responsible for those loans,’’ Waters said.
Efforts to reach Laffitte’s attorneys, Bart Daniel and Matt Austin, were unsuccessful Monday.
Laffitte turned himself in at the Kershaw County jail Friday, instead of the Richland jail where Murdaugh is being held, because the Kershaw facility was equipped for a virtual bond hearing, Attorney General’s Office spokesman Robert Kittle said Monday.
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 1:43 PM.
